Thanks to the work of many good people, our campus survived the ice
storm in good shape. Irene and I were woefully unprepared for several
days without electricity, heat (except for gas logs in two inefficient
fire places), telephone service (including cell coverage), and Internet
service. However, we survived well by using an outside propane grill for
coffee, eggs and biscuits, steak and grilled chicken, dressing in North Dakota
layers of clothes, and piling on warm blankets. On Thursday morning last week, the
temperature in our bedroom was 41 degrees! Except for a fence crushed by
falling limbs, we sustained no other visible damage. We did take our dog
Bess inside for three nights, and now she protests returning to her
kennel! I know that many of our faculty, staff and students, and
thousands of people across Northern Arkansas and other states had more
difficult experiences. In fact, we have had several families living on
Faculty Circle and Academic Circle who have been without power for more
than a week, but it is expected to be restored by City Water and Light
before this weekend. To everyone so inconvenienced, we extend our
sympathy and support.

In this edition of First Friday, I want to discuss the campus response
to the ice storm and meetings with faculty of the various colleges.
Finally, I want to remember a friend and outstanding American, Millard
Fuller, who passed away this week.

Dealing with the Ice Storm on Campus

Many people deserve our thanks and
praise for all they have done to cope with the ice storm crisis. Among those who
have come to my attention are Al Stoverink and all the staff in
Facilities Management, particularly the grounds crew that worked many
overtime hours to make the campus safe and
debris-free as soon as possible; Rick Stripling and the staff
in Student Affairs, including the University Police and Sodexo Food
Services, who took great care of our students who were stranded on
campus in our residence halls and housing units; Ed Kremers and his
staff in Finance and Administration, especially Tim Dean and the staff
of the Convocation Center, which served as a regional shelter; the IT
staff, who did their best to bring our computing system back online as
soon as possible after the storm; JW Mason and the payroll staff who made sure payroll checks were available
for those employees not on direct deposit last Friday when the
University was closed; Dean Susan Hanrahan, Debbie Persell and other
faculty, staff and students of the College of Nursing and Health
Professions and area physicians who provided medical
care for persons using the Convocation Center as a shelter; the
University Relations staff, who coordinated public communication
throughout the crisis; and finally,
those agencies and volunteers such as the American Red Cross, Mayor
Harold Perrin and the City of Jonesboro departments including City Water and Light, the
Arkansas Department of Emergency Management, FEMA and other groups from
outside the campus that worked so hard to restore power and provide
food, shelter, and medical attention for those in need because of the
ice storm.

Those of us on campus in our debriefing
sessions have also learned some lessons about how to cope better with a
disaster of this or a similar nature in the future. First, communication
is a big problem. Our fancy technology, such as cell phones, e-mail,
text messages, and such, is not worth a flip for getting the word out
when there is a widespread power failure. We need to have
well-established protocols as to where campus officials will meet and
how they will communicate immediately after a disaster strikes. With
thousands of people on campus, old-fashioned methods such as posting
notices and word of mouth must be utilized.

Second, there must be clear understandings
of who is in charge of what functions, with appropriate backup
designations if the person originally tasked with a duty is not on site.
Third, not all circumstances surrounding a disaster can be anticipated
in advance, so intelligent improvising is often a necessity. For
example, based on all the facts we had at hand, we made a judgment call
to open the university on Thursday, Jan. 29, which in retrospect was a
bad decision, given the additional power outages experienced Thursday
morning, after which a decision was made to close the university through
the weekend.

Finally, we believe that we need to seek
external funding to provide a large generator for the Convocation Center
so that it can effectively serve as a campus and community shelter even
if power is down for an extended period of time. The campus was given a
high priority for power restoration by City Water and Light, so the
Convocation Center was only without power (except for minimal lighting
provided by an existing small generator) for a short time. In a more
serious emergency, a longer-term power outage is a possibility and
should be anticipated in our future planning.

All in all, however, we are quite fortunate
that no one was seriously injured on campus, needs of our students,
faculty and staff were generally adequately met, and the amount of the
ice accumulation in Jonesboro was not as severe as in some other places.

Meetings with College Faculty

I am
now scheduling meetings with every College on campus for a listening
session and opportunity to exchange information and views directly with
faculty. I conducted similar sessions with each department shortly after
I arrived on campus during the 2006-2007 academic year, and found
these sessions extremely helpful in identifying areas of concern and
opportunities for action that could improve our campus. On Jan. 23, I
held my first meeting with the College of Nursing and Health
Professions. We
had a very good session. Among the topics raised by the faculty from
that college were issues with the campus bookstore not providing adequate
and timely quantities of textbooks and course packets and thereby adversely
impacting student learning, technology changes that seem to
shift more work to faculty, timing of web extender training,
appreciation for the university paying a significant portion of recent health
insurance premium increases, questions concerning the process of
formulation and adoption of
new ASU System policies, time of release of the Board of Trustees agendas,
assistance with advising of international students, and issues regarding
student documents faxed from sister campuses. I look forward to
addressing as many of these concerns as feasible and meeting with other
college faculty as the semester progresses.

Remembering Millard Fuller

Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for
Humanity and the Fuller Center for Housing, died suddenly earlier this
week and was buried Wednesday, Feb. 4, on Koinonia Farm near his and his
wife Linda’s home in Americus, Georgia. While his passing will probably
not be noted by many, I consider him one of the greatest human beings of
our generation. He truly demonstrated how the life of one individual can
make a tremendous positive difference in the world. Born in the small
town of Lanett, Ala., Millard attended Auburn University and later the
University of Alabama. While in Tuscaloosa as a student, he and his
classmate and friend Morris Dees (later founder of The Southern Poverty
Law Center) started and expanded a mail order business (first selling
cookbooks!) and he found himself a millionaire by the time he was 29
years old. A few years later, he and Linda, who he had married while a
student in Tuscaloosa, decided that they did not like the direction
their lives were taking, became dedicated Christians, gave away their
wealth, and moved to Koinonia Farm, an interracial community in rural
Georgia. They subsequently became missionaries to Zaire. After several
years in Zaire, Millard and Linda and their four children returned to
Koinonia and in collaboration with Koinonia’s founder, Clarence Jordan,
began a housing ministry which later became Habitat for Humanity and
subsequently the Fuller Center for Housing.

Millard’s goal (always with the advice and
assistance of Linda) was a simple one
– the eradication of substandard housing in the world. His
formula was to enlist volunteers to form chapters that would select
deserving individuals in their communities who lived in substandard
housing to become owners of a new well-built but simple house, obtain
donated labor and donated materials to the extent possible, and purchase
the remaining materials, and then construct the houses for "cost" with
the new "owner" providing "sweat equity" by working on the house. The
organization would take a no-interest mortgage from the new owner to
repay the out-of-pocket costs of construction so that the capital could
be reused for another house. This formula worked. There are now well
over 100,000 homes around the world that have been so constructed.

Irene and I have known the Fullers for more
than 20 years, and consider them close personal friends. I once invited
Millard to do a commencement speech at a former university. He was a
dynamic speaker and completely dedicated to doing good things for
others. We would see each other once or twice a year, and would always
exchange Christmas cards and frequently personal letters. Once you were
on his mailing list you could be sure that you would receive his form solicitation
letters for Habitat and the Fuller Center on a regular basis, too! He
never forgot his direct mail skills where he made millions before
beginning his housing ministry. He would also frequently send me a copy
of his newest book, article or CD. He was a prolific writer. Among my
favorites are Love in the Mortar Joints (1980), No More
Shacks! (1986), The Theology of the Hammer (1994), and three
volumes of Building Materials for Life (2002, 2004 and 2007).

As usual, last Christmas I sent him a card,
with a two-sentence note at most. When I returned to my office on Jan.
2, I had a two-page letter from him, along with a copy of a recent
feature article about him from the Auburn Alumni magazine. On Jan. 7 I
wrote him a note, not knowing that it would be my last communication
with him. I am thankful that I concluded the letter with the following
two sentences: "Thanks again for taking the time to write me a letter
and please give Irene’s and my best to Linda. We are very proud of what
you two have done and what you are doing now. We hope to continue
supporting your housing ministry in the months and years ahead."

On Wednesday of this week, Sherry Johnson
and I were going through my stack of unread mail, and there, in the
middle of the stack, was another two-page letter from Millard thanking
me for my Jan. 7 letter and asking me to serve on a new advisory council
for The Fuller Center. He closed the letter as follows: "Anyway, whether
you agree to this request or not I still have a huge respect and
appreciation for you and you have long been a wonderful encourager and
booster of the ministries of which I have been a part. Linda joins me in
sending all of our love to you and to Irene. In enduring friendship and
with gratitude, Millard."

While I am deeply saddened by Millard's
passing, I am grateful for the lessons in life I have learned from him.
We are reminded that while we are influenced by the lives of others, we
also are touching young lives every day in our work at Arkansas State
University. Thanks for the wonderful opportunity to serve as your
Chancellor. I hope the troubles of the bitter winter storm are soon
supplanted by the generosity of individuals with a spirit like Millard
Fuller's. May he rest in peace.